Carlton Mill With Attached Weaving Shed

Carlton Mill is a worsted spinning mill with an attached weaving shed, built in 1850 for Thomas Nicholl, with later additions in the 19th century. The building is constructed of coursed squared stone with a stone slate roof. The road front, facing north, has five bays arranged under two gables and stands four storeys high on Wharf Street, rising to six storeys towards the canal. Bay two features a panelled double loading door on each floor, with a winch hoist above the gable. The windows have stone lintels, raised cills, and 9-pane top-opening glazing. The central bay is blind apart from a window on the fourth floor, and the two right-hand ground-floor windows are also blind. An eaves cornice runs along the top of the building and the gables are embellished with keyed oculi, kneelers, and flat coping. A small, embattled, single-storey bay has been added to the left and contains a shop front with a doorway on the right. The rear of the mill has five bays, with a projecting privy block in the third bay. It features a cornice and twin gables with oculi, mirroring the front. To the right is a shorter, two-storey weaving shed with nine bays of windows and a keyed oculus to its right gable. The left return of the building has eleven bays: the six left-hand bays are six storeys high, while the others are four storeys. Bays nine and ten incorporate a tall, round-arched carriageway with rusticated quoins and voussoirs, carrying the road through the building and down to the canal. Bay eight has loading doors with a hoist above, and the windows are similar to those on the front. The right return is similar, with an opposing carriageway arch on the left and two round-arched openings with rusticated quoins and voussoirs to its right. Interior inspection was not possible, but previous records describe cast-iron columns supporting wooden beams, stone stairs, and surviving gearing and drive shafts from the original mill machinery. The mill was originally powered by two steam beam engines housed in a lower block (located elsewhere). At the time of resurvey, the building was burnt out, unoccupied, and in a state of dereliction.